The Greatest Risk

by Kristen Ashley

  A man like Fred, the kind who had zero legitimate concerns and thus made his money, raised his family, and went to sleep beside his wife as a criminal, but wanted to move into legitimate concerns way too late to even begin to wash the black marks from his soul—mattered not a thing to Stellan.

  Except for the fact he ranged the edge of Sixx’s life.

  And that had to stop.

  “So, if you should have another job, you’ll find another resource,” Stellan declared.

  “Don’t know, my man,” Fred drawled, proving one way he could be a buffoon. “After Dillinger left it, the field got empty. Tucker refuses to work for me because that mouthy wife of his hates my guts. I need something done, what’m I supposed to do?”

  “You have a creative way of dealing with human resources, Fred. I’m sure you’ll come up with something.”

  And this was true. For instance, when someone did something Fred didn’t like, if that someone was a man, Fred had his balls cut off, put in Formaldehyde, and they sat on a shelf behind his desk.

  Again, not someone he wanted around Sixx.

  And whatever jobs a man like that would throw her way?

  Absolutely not.

  “You’re leaving me at a disadvantage here, Lange, without offering me anything to even that shit out,” Fred noted.

  “If I remember correctly, I’m having words with a couple of council members about that parcel of land out past Queen’s Creek you want so badly.”

  “That’s a deal, we agreed,” Fred said roughly.

  “Sadly, before they play out, some deals need to be renegotiated.”

  Fred didn’t like to hear that, and as a man known to have a short fuse—which kept him in his position of lowly-criminal-with-a-moderate-empire, one he put great effort into keeping rather than elevating past, even in the world he inhabited—he didn’t wait to share his displeasure.

  Complete buffoon.

  “You sittin’ like a fat cat in your skyscraper—” Fred began.

  Stellan uncrossed his legs, swiveled to his desk and cut him off.

  “Listen to me,” he growled. “It amused me to do something for you, and it suited me to hold a marker from you. It turns out I’m calling that before I expected to. And you’ll allow me to do that. You’ll not contact Sixx for any jobs before that land deal goes through, and you’ll not do it after. If you do, we’ll have issues.”

  “We’ll have issues,” Fred mimicked. “Think you’re a big man, throwin’ your weight and connections around, think your money and all that protects you, but you’re a pussy in a suit.”

  “Sylvie Creed has no issues working with me,” Stellan said quietly. “You’re correct. She does dislike you. Quite intensely. She’d enjoy fucking with you and your business. I wouldn’t have to pay her, even though I would. And if you even thought of touching Sylvie, Tucker Creed would find you and rip your throat out with his bare hands. But listen to me, Fred, I might start out letting Sylvie have her fun with you, but I wouldn’t let it end that way. I look like I look because I have taste and a good barber. I would not underestimate me if I were you.”

  “Excuse me for not quaking in my boots,” Fred returned snidely. “What’s a pussy like you gonna do to me?”

  “If you engage Sixx again, I’ll eliminate you.”

  The fury was tangible when Fred replied, “Are you seriously threatening to kill me?”

  “Of course not,” Stellan returned unperturbedly. “There are a variety of ways to eliminate someone, Fred. And I’d get creative.”

  “Yeah,” the snide was back, “pussy.”

  “If you put Sixx in harm’s way, which I define as her being anywhere near you or your business ventures, I will make you hurt. And I’ll enjoy doing it.”

  “We’ll see how that goes,” Fred retorted.

  “The land deal is off the table.”

  “Fuck that, I don’t need that shit.”

  He did.

  And he’d never get it without Stellan.

  The fool.

  “And any further attempts to increase your legitimate dealings will be cut off at every pass, something you very much want to happen because your wife wants you to reach retirement age, and she sees her future foursomes of golf not including you.”

  “We’ll see,” Fred muttered, letting slip a nuance of discomfort at how much and how personal Stellan’s information ran.

  “And you can forget the nail parlor and smoothie shop. Neither can launder your money anymore considering I purchased the properties both inhabit last week, and I’m revoking their leases.”

  Fred had nothing to say to that.

  Stellan turned back to the view and crossed his legs, asking, “Have I lost you?”

  “Set up that play,” Fred whispered. “You set up that goddamn play before you even promised me those votes.”

  “I never enter negotiations without complete understanding I have the upper hand.”

  “That was a smart play, but this one isn’t,” Fred warned.

  “No, what isn’t a smart play is dealing with someone who has a variety of things you want and not giving him the only thing he asks for, something that means nothing to you. Doing that simply in an attempt to communicate you have the bigger balls, when doing it means you do not. Now, if I read your response right, you’re threatening me. And I can assure you that if you test me, I’ll retaliate.”

  “And if I test your woman?”

  Stellan’s neck got tight.

  But his voice was smooth when he returned, “Then Sixx will retaliate, and you’ll feel humiliated when she lands you on your ass. But I’d wager that’s the last thing you’d feel before she carved a blade across your throat.”

  “So you know the reputation of this bitch you’re so fuckin’ hot to keep outta the game,” Fred noted.

  “I know there’s one worse enemy you can have in Phoenix outside Sixx Marchesa, and it isn’t me. It’s Branch Dillinger. And if you hurt her or me, before either of us could make a play, you’d be dealing with him.”

  Not surprisingly, the specter of Dillinger worked.

  Then again, even Stellan might think twice before he crossed Branch Dillinger. Unless he liked you, and there were few in that club, the man was cold as stone. And vengeance served up from a man with an elite set of skills who looked at the vast majority of humanity as globs of matter that shared space with him was not something anyone would wish to elicit.

  “Fine. You want it, my man, you got it,” Fred spat. “Figure you callin’ me means you’re doin’ this without her knowin’, so it’s gonna be you who’s gonna be on your ass.”

  The truth was, Stellan was very curious what Simone’s response was going to be.

  And after their match in bed the day before, he was hoping she’d give that avenue a repeat try.

  “Don’t call this number again, asshole,” Fred finished.

  “Delightedly.”

  “Pussy,” Fred muttered.

  “Buffoon,” Stellan returned clearly.

  “Fuck you.”

  “Aren’t we done?” Stellan asked.

  “Yeah we—”

  Stellan made them done.

  He hung up.

  He didn’t have time for that.

  He had other calls to make.

  * * *

  “Stellan, my brother,” Aryas answered.

  “Aryas,” Stellan replied.

  “Good news for you,” Aryas told him before Stellan could begin talking about why he’d called. “Got a Domme in training. She could use an experienced sub, and from my take on her, the boy you talked to me about would be good for her. If he’s up for a session or two, I’d waive the guest pass he’d have to normally pay. Can’t waive the background check though, so he’d have to make an appointment to come in, fill out the paperwork, and talk with Dillinger.”

  “That’s good news, I’ll speak with Ami,” Stellan said and added another phone call to Sixx on his list of things to do that day.

  �
��Let me know what he says, and I’ll chat with the Domme.”

  “Right. I’ll do that,” Stellan agreed. “Do you have a few minutes to talk?”

  “Shoot,” Aryas invited.

  “When’s the last time you spoke with Sixx?” Stellan asked.

  “Spoke with her as in, got deep into a conversation about life and love and the meaning of it all? Never. Got into a conversation that lasted longer than it took for us to share a drink in one of my booths at the Honey? Never. Shared a drink with her at the club and didn’t get into anything that means anything, even though I’d try but she’d cut me off at every pass? A couple of weeks. Got into a conversation over the phone with her to ream her ass about stupid shit she does to make money? It’s been a while, since she stopped doing stupid shit.”

  “She hasn’t.”

  There was silence.

  “She works ad hoc jobs for Fred Carvelo, among others.”

  “Fuck,” Aryas bit.

  “I’ve been making a few calls,” Stellan shared. “This work will dry up, starting today.”

  Another wave of silence, but Aryas broke it. “Have you lost your mind?”

  “No,” Stellan answered calmly.

  “I take it you’re makin’ these calls, she doesn’t know this work is gonna stop coming her way.”

  “You take it correctly.”

  “Okay,” Aryas began. “Goes without sayin’ I do not want our girl doin’ stupid shit for dirty assholes who infest the underbelly of Phoenix. But I’m thinkin’ that’s not the way to go with makin’ that stop.”

  “And how has reaming her ass worked so far, Aryas?” Stellan asked.

  There was a pause before he muttered, “You got a point.” He spoke clearly when he continued, “I’m still not thinking good thoughts on this, Stellan.”

  “I need you to help me pull her in,” Stellan told him.

  “Say again?” Aryas demanded.

  “I need you to help me pull her in. You and Leigh and Olly and Leenie. I need her grounded. I need her centered. I need her supported. I need to build a foundation for her that she believes in. That she knows in her heart will never crack.”

  Aryas sounded perplexed when he replied, “She’s already got that.”

  “No, she doesn’t. She has no idea that she has that, which means she does not have that. She understands the concept that she has good people in her life. She absolutely does not understand the concept that they form the foundation of a life that will see her through the best of times, the worst of times, and all the minutiae in between.”

  “You’re digging under,” Aryas whispered, no concern in his voice, just respect.

  “I am.”

  “You’re getting in there.”

  “That I’m not doing,” Stellan admitted. “So I’m calling for reinforcements.”

  “I’m in. So in. All in,” Aryas declared. “I’ll talk to Leigh. Leenie. Get her ass to the club. She’ll have so much foundation she’ll think she got herself a pair of cement boots.”

  Stellan took in a deep breath and let it out, saying, “Thank you.”

  “No need to thank me. Thanks goes to you, my man. And we’ll be with you all the ways we can.”

  “We’ll be at the club tomorrow night,” Stellan shared.

  “And so will I. See you then … and Stellan?”

  “Yes?”

  “Good luck, brother. Good fuckin’ luck,” Aryas said low.

  After that, he hung up.

  Stellan put his phone on his desk and turned back to the view thinking he could use all the luck he could get.

  And hoping he didn’t need a miracle.

  * * *

  “I’ll want to meet her,” Simone said that night from where they sat, both of them ostensibly reading, but mostly talking, on the couch in front of the fire in their bedroom.

  Stellan made a note to make yet another call, this time again to Aryas so he could arrange for the Mistress that he wanted to work Ami to meet Simone.

  “I’ll see if Aryas will ask her to meet us at the club,” Stellan replied.

  “Ami should also be able to look her over,” Simone said.

  Stellan fought back a sigh at yet another call he’d need to make.

  “Once you approve her, I’ll discuss it with him.”

  “Good,” she murmured, eyes to her tablet where she was reading a downloaded book.

  Not her sketchpads. Those usually disappeared after she worked at them. He’d only ever seen her leave one out—last Friday, after their intense conversation—and it was likely left out because of their intense conversation. An oversight.

  He needed to get into those sketchpads.

  But he had a feeling if he did that without her permission, it would be an invasion she’d never forgive and a betrayal she’d use to end things with him in a way even he could not resuscitate.

  As he studied her across the couch from him, doing it considering pulling her feet into his lap, she lifted her gaze to him.

  “I’m not sure about the club tomorrow night, baby,” she said softly.

  She used “baby” to get her way quite often.

  He liked it when she called him that so much he should allow her to get her way so she wouldn’t discontinue its use.

  However, with the stakes this high, that would be counterproductive.

  “Why not?” he asked.

  “We’re not going to play, right?”

  He nodded. “We’re not going to play.”

  “So what’s the point?”

  “The point is to have a drink in a place where we can fully be who we are around people who are comfortable being fully who they are. One of the few places, outside our home, that allows that. Our place.”

  At his last two words, she turned to the fire.

  Stellan examined her profile.

  In doing so, he noted she was trying to hide it.

  But she was scared.

  And there were likely a myriad of reasons why.

  She was scared of being his in a place where she had a carefully constructed façade she did not wish to be dismantled due to what it would expose. Scared of going there with him for no reason but to be with him, with her friends, and how much she’d like that, which would mean it would demonstrate how much she’d miss it when it was gone—or better, how much she wouldn’t want to let it go. Scared of what it might convey, her with him, as they were both Doms, and as erroneous as it was to make that assumption, it was the way of the world, not simply the way of Simone’s nature, that it would be assumed if one of them would switch, it would be her.

  “I’ve never known you to go there just for a drink,” she said softly.

  “You haven’t been there every time I’ve been there,” he replied quietly. “That said, it is rare that I would go just for that purpose.” She turned again to look at him. “But I’ve also never had a woman in my life who shared my way of life.”

  “I think it’s too soon.”

  If she thought going to the Honey was too soon, she was not going to appreciate the news she’d be meeting Susan, Harry and Crosby on Thursday night.

  “You’re thinking wrong,” he replied.

  “Stellan—”

  “We’re going,” he said decisively.

  Her back got straight. “I’m not your submissive Simone right now,” she snapped.

  He looked down to his book, stating smoothly, “You always are, darling. You’ll come to realize that and take comfort and contentment in it.”

  “Not when there’s something you want to do that I don’t want to do in terms of just living life.”

  He looked back at her. “Give me one reason, only one, but it has to be a good one, why we would not go to the club tomorrow night,”

  Giving him one good reason would expose too much, therefore she shot back, “I don’t feel like it.”

  “That’s not a good reason.”

  “It should be,” she retorted.

  Stellan decided to stop playing ni
ce.

  “My pretty little coward,” he whispered.

  Her eyes flashed.

  His lips curved.

  She looked down at her tablet, shutting him out at the same time giving in.

  He fully smiled.

  Then he ordered, “Put your feet in my lap, sweetheart.”

  “Go to hell, asshole,” she muttered.

  He set his book aside, captured her feet, and brought them to his lap. She struggled, but only for moments, deciding not to give him the pleasure of subduing her.

  Wise.

  He started in on massaging the soles.

  “You’re insufferable,” she told her tablet.

  “You’re adorable,” he told her.

  Eyes still aimed at her screen, Stellan caught a brand-new look on her face. It was pinched with frustration.

  Definitely adorable.

  With one hand, Stellan continued to massage her foot while with the other, he grabbed his book to give the impression he’d resumed reading.

  He did not.

  He fought the urge to crow.

  She’d given in.

  She could have fought it. She could have refused to do it.

  But some part of her wanted to be on his arm as he walked them into the Honey. To be with her friends there. To be in their space.

  She could be unconsciously taking everything she could get before she took herself away.

  Or she could be learning to enjoy everything she was going to have.

  Stellan decided it was the latter.

  He also decided to read two more chapters.

  After that, he was making love to his Simone, and they were going to sleep.

  Tomorrow, they’d battle again.

  And he was looking forward to it.

  fourteen

  Multivitamin

  SIXX

  Sixx came down the next morning prepared for what she’d face.

  She did not have to wait for it.

  “Buenos días, Simone!” M greeted in that way Simone was becoming accustomed to, like she hadn’t seen her just yesterday but like Simone had reentered their world from her decade-long sojourn in a parallel universe, and M wasn’t used to having her back.

  “Hey, M,” Sixx replied, scanning the area, looking for Stellan.

  “He’s in his study,” M told her. “Your vitamins are in that dish on the island. I bought you a woman’s multi and I got pomegranate juice.”